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Reviving movie watching as a communal experience, one IRL film club at a time
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Krists Luhaers
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Films are as powerful as ever. But the experience of watching them has changed dramatically in recent years. Between 1995 and 2020, nearly 2,000 movie theaters closed across the United States.
Why? Streaming. But after years of bingeing movies at home on Netflix, cinephiles are fighting back.
A conversation is already a political act … we just really want people to meet each other and talk to each other and form a community.
— Annie Roney, founder of IRL Movie Club
“We're trying to build a community of people who want to actually come together in real life, gather around the campfire of a film,” said Annie Roney.
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Roney has been in the film business for over three decades as a distributor of documentary films. Last year she founded IRL Movie Club — a national, non-profit organization. (Those initials stand for “in real life.”)
The idea is simple. The organization pairs up with theaters for a documentary film screening. There’s no question-and-answer sessions with directors or actors as part of the program — just a simple prompt at the end of the film to turn around and meet your fellow viewers.
“A conversation is already a political act … we just really want people to meet each other and talk to each other and form a community,” Roney said.
The organization is now showing in 69 theaters across the country from California and Colorado to North Carolina and New York.
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Reviving movie watching as a communal experience, one IRL film club at a time
It’s a hard knock life for movie theaters and documentaries
Attendance in recent years for blockbuster movies has shown signs or resurgence, but it hasn't quite returned to pre-pandemic levels. Documentaries in particular have had a hard time finding audiences. Mega streamer Netflix, which had been a bright spot for the genre, is pulling back on production and distribution.
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“They don't need our films to survive,” Roney said, who’s helped distribute Ken Burns documentaries as well as episodes from the NOVA series.
Documentaries that probe, question, and hold people and institutions to account are needed now more than ever, she said.
Cheap tickets
Movie theater ticket prices have gone up in recent years to an average of $10.78. IRL Movie Club is taking that head on by keeping prices low, $5 per ticket.
The next screening at IRL Movie Club theaters will be The Thinking Game, a documentary about the race to create the smartest artificial intelligence technology ever.
The L.A. area screening will take place at the Art Theater in Long Beach on Sunday at 2 p.m.
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